May 23, 2012

Flying high: K-State Salina flight team lands in top 10 at national competition

There's no place like home for Kansas State University Salina's Flight Team, which earned a seventh place finish in a national flight competition that the campus hosted.

The National Intercollegiate Flying Association's National Safety And Flight Evaluation Conference, or SAFECON, and competition was May 14-19 at the Salina Municipal Airport. Twenty-eight teams from schools across the country participated.

The Kansas State University Salina team won an invitation to the national competition by placing second in the association's Region VI competition in October 2011.

The competition consists of 13 events, with members of the Kansas State University Salina Flight Team earning 10 individual placements in the top 20 in nine events: Certified Flight Instructor, Computer Accuracy, Ground Trainer, IFR Simulated Flight, Men's Achievement Award, Power-off Landing, Short-field Landing and Simulated Comprehensive Aircraft Navigation. The team placed fifth overall in the flying events.

* Contestants work against the clock in the Computer Accuracy event as they manually solve mathematical flight planning computations on time, speed, distance, wind correction, fuel requirements and conversion factors.

* The Crew Resource Management/Line Oriented Flight Training event tests contestants on their ability to work together as a two-person crew as they navigate in-flight situations during a simulated cross-country flight.

* In the Ground Trainer event contestants fly a complex pattern of climbs, descents and turns on a flight simulator. Scores are determined by the pilot's accuracy.

* The IFR Simulated Flight tests contestants on their ability to perform in a simulated instrument flight rules flight environment while adhering to the standard procedures required by the Aeronautical Information Manual and Air Traffic Control.

* The Short-field Landing event tests a pilot's skill at maneuvering and manipulating the aircraft. After taking off and flying a normal traffic pattern, the objective is to land as close to, if not on, the target line as possible.

* The Men's Achievement Award was given to three participants based on academic accomplishments, community service and aviation involvement.

* The Power-off Landing event is similar to the Short-field event, except that the approach is made by gliding to touchdown.

Michael Potts, senior in professional pilot, Highlands Ranch, Colo., second in Men's Achievement, 14th in Computer Accuracy and selected by the team as the Outstanding Team Member; Trevor Henson, sophomore in professional pilot, Dunlap, Ill., Flight Team member; Jim Hoffman, freshman in business administration, Warrenville, Ill., Flight Team member; Colton A. Daum, senior in professional pilot, Dix, Neb., and team coach, second in IFR Simulator, third in Crew Resource Management/Line Oriented Flight Training, third in Short-field Landing, 13th in Ground Trainer and 19th in Simulated Comprehensive Aircraft Navigation; and Ryan Enebo, senior in professional pilot, Sanger, Texas, and team captain, third in Short-field Landing and 19th in Power-off Landing.